Native Americans protesting against the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) on Saturday accused law enforcement officers of cruel and inhumane treatment in jail, but said mass arrests and violent confrontations with police would not deter them from fighting construction of the oil project.

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Activists were reunited at the Standing Rock camps in North Dakota after their release from local jails. Some told the Guardian police aggressively detained them, crowded them into vans, wrote numbers on their arms to track them, conducted invasive body searches and showed a lack of respect for native culture.

“They treat us like we’re not human beings,” said Russell Eagle Bear, a member of the Rosebud Sioux, who was one of 141 people arrested on Thursday when protesters tried to block pipeline construction. “We’re simply numbers to them.”

In tears, Caro Gonzales, a member of the Chemehuevi tribe who was one of the first arrested, said police temporarily detained her and three other women in a large cage that she described as a “dog kennel”.

“We were all crying in pain, saying we needed medical attention,” said Gonzales, 26, who also goes by the name Guarding Red Tarantula Woman.

Caro Gonzales: ‘We were all crying in pain.’ Photograph: Sam Levin

The release from jail of the protesters came after a week of increasingly tense conflict between Native American activists and a growing police force seeking to thwart protests against the $3.8bn pipeline.

The project, which would transport crude oil from the Bakken oil field to a refinery near Chicago, first sparked demonstrations in April, when members of the Standing Rock Lakota and other Native American nations rode on horseback and established the Sacred Stone “spiritual camp”.

Thousands of activists have since traveled to Cannon Ball, North Dakota, including members of tribes from across the US, launching a huge and continuing protest that has become a rallying cry for indigenous rights, climate change activism and environmental conservation.

Leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux say the pipeline, a project of the Texas-based corporation Energy Transfer Partners, threatens the water supply and cultural heritage and would destroy sacred lands. Over the last week, activists have repeatedly attempted to occupy the property where pipeline construction is beginning, leading to daily standoffs that have ended in arrests and violence.

Protesters inspect charred vehicles and signs in front of a law enforcement barricade. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

The Morton county sheriff’s office and supporting police agencies from across North Dakota and beyond have now made more than 400 arrests, accusing Native American activists, journalists and film-makers of rioting, trespassing, arson, resisting arrest and assaulting officers.

A sheriff spokesman, Rob Keller, told the Guardian in an email Sunday that “temporary holding cells made of chain link fences” are only used during mass arrests, and said that medical and nurse staff address inmates’ needs.

The drama intensified when protesters created barricades of fire and set alight vehicles including those meant for pipeline construction.

Protesters and civil rights groups monitoring the demonstration have argued that police have become overly militarized and dangerously aggressive. Law enforcement officials on Friday admitted to using pepper spray, “bean-bag and sponge rounds”, Tasers and devices that transmit loud bangs and high-pitch tones, in response to what Morton County sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described as “escalated violent and illegal actions”.

“We got herded around like cattle,” said Wakia Chikala, another protester who was arrested on Thursday.

Several members of a youth council that has helped lead the movement at Sacred Stone told the Guardian they were on the front lines of Thursday’s standoff and that police attacked them when they tried to remain peaceful.

“The cops threw me to the ground,” said Wambli Red Bird, 19, of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe. “One of them had a knee on my neck and they were shouting ‘Stop resisting.’ I was telling them, ‘I’m going peacefully.’”

Lauren Howland: ‘Every time we got maced, we got right back up.’ Photograph: Sam Levin

“The cop grabbed me and twisted my hand,” added Lauren Howland, a 21-year-old youth council representative and member of the San Carlos Apache tribe who is recovering from a broken wrist sustained in an earlier confrontation with police. “But every time we got maced, we got right back up.”

Authorities faced widespread criticism from free speech advocates after police issued an arrest warrant against the broadcast journalist and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman – charges a judge later rejected. The actor Shailene Woodley was also arrested at the protest, which has also attracted visits from the actor Mark Ruffalo and the civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

The ground effort to stop the oil project comes a month after a federal judge denied a request from tribal leadership to block construction permits.

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Activists held a peaceful rally on Saturday, marching to a bridge where there is now a roadblock and barricade separating the camp from the pipeline project – where police remain stationed with large tanks. Tribal leaders sang as law enforcement helicopters flew above the crowd.

Gonzales said she spent 36 hours behind bars and was now facing multiple charges, including criminal trespassing and conspiracy with fire. Police also impounded her motor home, she said, with all of her belongings.

“I don’t have any clothes or anything,” she said, sitting in a hotel room in a local casino, where she and others were recovering from what they described as traumatic jail experiences.

Gonzales, who lives in Olympia, in Washington state, and has been at the camp for three months, said she was arrested while praying. “They slammed us on to the ground,” she said.